Tea rejected by Iraq may not be fit for consumption

About 300 tonnes of tea rejected by Iraq on grounds of quality may not be safe for human consumption.

According to Customs Department officials in Kochi, the rejected consignments had failed initial plant quarantine tests.

Tea Board sources said the consignments were found to have more fibres. The consignments are now lying at the Rajiv Gandhi Container terminal of the Kochi port.

The shipments returned before the container terminal operations shifted to Vallarpadam.

According to sources, Iraq had rejected 12 containers in December and they were sent back to India. But the consignments, sent by a Coimbatore-based firm, have been detained by Customs authorities.

On its part, the Tea Board has told the Customs authorities that the rejected teas could not be sold in the country. They have also been told to alert the Board if the consignments were handed back to the exporting firm.

Customs official said they would adjudicate the case, which could take up to six months.According to the process, the exporting firm will first be issued a show cause notice and based on the reply, the adjudication process will be initiated. The authorities are yet to issue a notice. “We will issue a notice within a month,” an official said.

If the shipments are found unfit for human consumption, then Customs authorities will destroy them.

The exporting firm will have to pay a hefty amount as demurrage and detention charges when the cargo is cleared from the terminal.

The rejected ones are among the 200 that have been reportedly sent back from Iraq's Basra port.

Tea Board sources said the shipments had failed the Prevention of Food Adulteration norms of Iraq. Plantation industry sources said that such rejections were causing concern. The United Planters Association of Southern India, pointing out at the rejections, had asked the Tea Board to set up a pre-shipment inspection council.

In September, the Deputy Chairperson of Tea Board, Ms Roshni Sen, told Business Line that the Board was considering such inspection for select destination and tea below certain value. However, except for a couple of more meetings between the Tea Board and the tea industry nothing has happened. Tea Board sources said they had problems putting personnel to manage such inspection.

Plantation sources said it would help even if a council that can examine the sample, sent to bag orders, with the actual produce being shipped is set up.

Tea Board sources, on the other hand, say the rejections could also be on grounds other than quality. Importers may have their own reasons for rejecting the consignments, they say. Trade sources said some of the consignments that were rejected had been certified for quality by a private inspection agency. However, Tea Board officials were not sure whether any exporter had got certification from any agency.

According to plantation sources, tea consignments to Europe are sent only after certification for quality by agencies such as SGS.

Tea Board sources said “business ethics” was required to prevent such events but plantation industry sources are sceptical.

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